Video - feedback

As a group we presented our pitch to the class, as they were our target audience and received useful feedback from the class. They had agreed with most of our ideas, such as the story line and locations we could set the film at. However they were a bit confused and said the story was a little complicated and whether the film would fit in under 5min. we showed them our ideas and how simple we wanted to produce the short film, and therefore we think it is achievable. We discussed about the sound effects because we weren’t going to use much dialogue, they gave us ideas on using/producing sounds such as crunching leaves, gun shots and loading gun. We discussed about, black mailing the contract killer, they said we can cut that bit out and have the contract killer fighting his inner conscience. We agreed on this and thought that it may drift the plot away. With most votes on the internal struggle they also said that we could have a voice portraying the character, however we thought that this could seem a little over the top and that we should keep it simple and that our scriptive and plans are good and keep most of our original ideas, as the feedback we got were mostly positive. We thought that we have to keep the short film, short and simple as by adding more things to it may drift the main idea away. But we agreed on the use of ambient sound effects and that is could develop out production and make it realistic.

Pitch

Timetoast

Feflect - practice task

During our practice task we faced a few problems filming, the reasons are:

we only had one lesson to film which wasn't enough time, therefore we didn't get enough shots which then editing in the next lesson was difficult because it made no sense (the shots.) however when filming the real short film, we will be given much more time to get our work done.

when collecting the equipments we forgot to ask for a tripod so the shots were shaky. 

using the equipments correctly; the mic was picking up sound we didn't want in the background, the reason for this was because we were filming outside which was a little windy. so for our real short film we will have to keep that in mind. over all because the lesson was rushed we didn't get much time to plan out the shots which we also lacked in exploring different angles, it was all just wide shot. so when filming our actual film we will have to plan shot by shot. 

some of the positive point are:

our teamwork was great, we all had a roll (acting or filming.) the communication was good because given the time we had, we still got the majority of the work done. Although the shots were a little shaky the shots were still clear and the lighting was good. our location was a good place; outside college. our editing was also good, we managed to get all the shots edited. 

  

Media case study - 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsC1_PCOGos

Short film: Victim
Director: Eddie Adamson
date released: May 23 2013

the short film is based on a teenage boy who finds himself being followed by the 'slender man' over the past few days. he goes out to the woods and finds a message. the short film continues to him tripping and falls over hitting his head. the boy is felt in the dark at night in the woods he uses his lighter to see in the dark. the short film ends when the when the boy sees someone in the dark.

The genre for the short film is horror. they portrayed this successfully by choosing a good location where the short film purposes were met, traditionally horror films are filmed somewhere were there no people around. also when the short film was building up towards the end, they chose to film it during night time where there was no light, to give he full effect of horror. also horror, thriller and or action works well during night times or anywhere dark.
The short film uses live action; therefore no animation or greenscreen. the reason for this could be, o allow the short film feel real.

In the short film there were only two characters used, the teenage boy who was playing the victim role and the man who was playing 'slender man' they fit well into characters from what they are dressed in, for example the teenage boy is in typical modern clothes; what any ordinary teenage boy would wear. and the 'slender men' who we see only towards the ending, he wears a mask to hide his identity, and when someone is unidentifiable, you're usually scared.

at the start of the short film we see a number of different angles of the location; field, grass, plants and its all fog and damp to give the full effect of horror during day time. there are many close ups, of the teenage boy as the camera follows him into his daily basis. towards the middle of the film were, the boy is jogging, the camera, zooms into his back, that leaves the audience into thinking that something is about to happen, however they almost trick us into thinking that.

Editing of the short film, shot by shot, to put the film in order to make a flowing scene, parts were there are more action, like running or when the director is trying to build tension the cutting rate increases, its more fast paced. because the short film has little dialogue or none at all, they replace it with sound that they edited in.fo example, he is in the dark alone the musics beat is faster. the reason why they use sound effects is to fill the awkward silence in, and the type they use fits into its genre

This short film in particular, uses camera techniques to fill in the audience with information, or the things they want to specifically highlight, for example, in the beginning they use close ups and wide shots on the location, to help the audience understand the necessary parts. i could also start my short film, with close ups of location, to get the story started. each characters are dressed a certain way, i could also have a character dressed in unidentifiable costume (mask.)  i could also use sound effects to replace, the dialogue.

the only reason why i choose this short film as my case study is because the short film has the same genre as the work as i am doing, which is action and thriller. however the storyline has nothing to do with the idea of our short film, but we can use the similar idea of when they are fighting towards mid of the film , the woods, because as one our location we too were thinking of shooting in the woods

Media case study - 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbVpNTwP1Ho

Short Film: knowing Too Much
Director: Matthew Morton
Date released: August 26 2011

The short film is about a man who has something that seems important (a file.) the reason why it seems so important is half way through the short film he is followed by a man, he tries to run away (to a car park, were his car was parked) however the mysterious man he was trying to run away from, found him and killed him.
the genre for the short film is thriller and action. They portrayed this successfully by choosing a good location where the short films purposes was met. also the time they shot the short film was good; it was at night and therefore traditionally thriller, horror and action usually works well in dark places.
also the short film uses live action; therefore no animation or green screen was used. the reason for this could be, to allow the short film to feel real.

In this short film, there are only two characters used, one thats running away and the other who seems to be the killer. the actors are complete in their characters by what they are wearing, for example the killer is wearing a suit which in all movies, someone who has more power than the other often dresses more professional and in expensive clothes. were as the other guy who dies in the end is wearing casual looking clothes with a backpack.
the target audience for this short film would be anyone aged above 16, because there is killing in the video.

the short film uses, all sorts of camera angles and techniques. they use a lot of hand held to give the full effect of movement, so that the audience feel as though they are taking part in the action movie. They use it when the guy is running up  the stairs, they also use panning when the guy is running along the car park area to show a flowing running scene while the camera is also hand held. this creates tension and makes the audiences question what might happen next.

They used bird's eye view as the film started, following the man/victim with the folder. this angle was used to allow the audience see the location and where the victim was heading (which was the car park) the birds eye view was shot handheld, causing the camera to be shaky, this was to give the mysterious effect.

   

the short film was shot during night time this was great to shoot an action/thriller movie however is may be a little difficult to see both the characters and location, therefore when shooting our short film and have it during night time, we should keep in mind to have a source of lighting so that the characters as well as the location could still be seen. 

Editing of the short film. shot by shot, to put the film in order to make a more flowing scene, they edited sound in for example heart beat, when the man is about to get shot, this informs the audience that his heart is racing and he is terrified. there is also fast music, when the man is in action (running) Because this short film uses little dialogue they use sound to replace all the silence to help tell what exactly is happening.
as the short film builds up, we can tell that the cutting rate increases, for example when the victim runs up the stairs the cutting rate also increases this is because the man is running fast, and the cutting rate helps emphasize the speed he is going. this also helps build up tension for the audience. when the tension ends; the killer kills the victim, the shots become longer and the cutting rate becomes normal.

i have learnt from this short film, that when creating an action, thriller or horror movie, it could be easier to create that in a dark place, maybe during night time. the location would often have no people around, an abandon place. to create that level between too characters, what they wear would tell a lot, so i can keep in mind that dressing the actor a certain way will help the audience. using less dialogue, and replacing it with music. the tension built just from the different camera angles used, the shots change fast when in action.

Media case study - 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J2AhMZ7wdQ

Short Film : Proximity
Director : Ryan Connolly
Date Released: 5th December 2013

A group of men wake up to find that their ankles are rigged with proximity triggered bombs, the mens are paired in two while being forced to play a twisted game of survival as they are hunted by their captors. at the same time once the men run in different directions further  away from each other, they can trigger the bomb. the short film ends as the main character survives and continues as he appears to be playing the kidnappers role as the game is a continuous cycle.

The genre of the short film are thriller and action because there are fighting scene and killing. The director portrayed this successfully, by using a variety of camera techniques, editing, the storyline and acting. in this short film, it starts off as the three men at the back of the truck, with their faces covered, laying flat on their front as though they are dead.
the short film begins with shaky camera, this technique was used to create an intense mood, also the movement of the truck and as they pull over the shaky camera stops. They used close up to their hands to show that they were tied up at their backs so that the audience know that they have been captured. the shaky camera returns when there is a tense scene to create urgency and excitement as the unsteady scene pulls the audience to the scene as though they are taking part in the film.

side view: as the character is on the floor and sees things from the side the camera itself is also on its side, this shows the character's point of view, because what he saw was one of the short films elements therefore it was important for the audience themselves to see (1:12 the mans shoes)

They used variety shot such as close up, wide shot, panning and many more to show or explain how the game works in the movie for example when the two men starts to run, they run away from each other causing the bomb to trigger.  

they used close up to the bomb that was around their ankle. the bomb had a measurement, so you could see how far you could go before the ankle bomb triggers. they used this technique once again to explain how the game works to the audiences.

The location used to play the film, was perfect as it is traditional to use an open bandon place with no public presence where there is killing and fighting taking place, you could also see this repeated in similar movies. also as the film continues to be shot in the woods/forest, the location allowed that to flow as they did not need to change locations. when shooting our short film, as our story line involves killing we could think of a similar location. 

The costume for each characters fitted into their roles; they had the characters who played the kidnapped role to wear the same costume, which white coloured trousers and tops, they were dirty and therefore looked darker, this was to give the effect that they have been through things before arriving at the location, giving the short film a more mysterious feel as we don't know how and when they were kidnapped. The captures were dress in opposite costume to highlight the two different roles to the audiences; all black. for the props, the two captures had a gun, this showed that they were at higher position and held more power.

For the lighting they used most of the time natural daylight, however they have edited the movie to look a little more dark and dull looking, this is because they wanted to portray the feel of action and mysterious thriller-like and mood for the movie. when shooting and editing our own short film we too could think about editing a filter to complete the feel and atmosphere of the short film.

no actual makeup used for the short film, although the kidnapped characters do look dirty as though they haven't showered. they used fake blood, for a more realistic feel to the film.

For the sound, they have edited gun shot sound, when shooting the two characters when their bomb triggered. Because the short film has little dialogue or none at all, they replace it with sound that they edited in.fo example, he is in the dark alone the musics beat is faster. the reason why they use sound effects is to fill the awkward silence in, and the type they use fits into its genre 

 Editing of the short film, shot by shot, to put the film in order to make a flowing scene, parts were there are more action, like running or when the director is trying to build tension the cutting rate increases, its more fast paced. 

Short film - 3 narrative ideas

teaser of a short film produced in our group